An Israel security source provided to me full figures on the military casualties for both Hamas and the IDF since 10/7. The numbers have not been reported anywhere as far as I know. They are shocking.
15,000 Palestinian have been murdered by the IDF. That is nearly 1% of Gaza’s overall population of 2.5-million. It is equivalent to over 3-million American dead. One out of every 200 Gazans has been killed.
Of the overall number of Gaza dead, 5,300 were Hamas fighters. The source estimates there are 30,000 altogether. In other words, despite destroying virtually all of Gaza, it has killed only 15% of Hamas’ overall military force. Among the Hamas dead, 1,500 were killed on 10/7 (out of about 3,000 that invaded Israel). That means, the IDF has killed less that 4,000 Hamas fighters during six weeks of attacks inside Gaza. 200 Palestinians have been murdered by soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.
Any claim Israel makes that it can eliminate Hamas is bogus. As I’ve written here, Israel has no military strategy. It’s only goal is vengeance. And that is no strategy. Vengeance is an emotion that precludes any rational consideration of political or military goals.
Unfortunately, the US and other western nations have treated the Gaza invasion as a disciplined conventional war. It is not and must not be viewed as such. In doing so, it has ceded any ability to control or stop the carnage. The US has only two ways of doing so. It can threaten Israel in various ways by cutting off military weapons deliveries; support war crimes referral to the ICC; supporting UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel, etc. Or it can view Israel’s Gaza genocide for what it is and respond accordingly in its public statements. In other words, it can condemn Israel publicly in clear terms–which it will not do because it is enveloped in a fog of deliberate incomprehension.
Unless Israel ethnically cleanses all 2.5-million Gazans, the wars and bloodletting–both Israeli and Palestinian–will continue endlessly. It’s akin to Sisyphus sentenced by the gods to roll a heavy boulder uphill only to have it tumble back down just as he reaches the top.
Israel’s creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and genocide in Gaza will also continue unabated. Even if it entirely “cleanses” all of Gaza’s inhabitants, Hamas will never give up and will make Israel bleed.
400 IDF soldiers and police were killed on 10/7. 54 have been killed subsequently during fighting inside Gaza. That’s a ratio between Israeli and Palestinian dead post-10/7 of nearly 20 to 1.
The numbers are astonishing.
In the meanwhile with eyes turned to Gaza we are getting reports from David Shulman in the West Bank of the horrors perpetrated by outpost settlers:link to nybooks.com
Astonishing numbers! What a crime!
Netanyahu Tells Biden Fu*k Off
Bombing resumes … Antony Blinken left Israel thru Ben Gurion airfield on his way to the UAE, closest Arab ally of the White House and strongest supporter of Trump-Kushner Abraham Accords.
Today’s article on +972 is also quite relevant to how the targetting works why the ratio has been so high:
link to 972mag.com
Richard,
Just for the sake of clarity, could you explain how you determine an Israeli-Palestinian loss ratio of 20:1?
15,000 Palestine killed to 54 Israelis. If you do the count including the Israelis killed on 108 vs Hamas fighters killed it may be slightly different.
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